Photo: 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0How Rathdrum works: jobs, income and commuting
At the 2022 census, 10% of the labour force in Rathdrum had no job, next to 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. On jobs and income together, Rathdrum grades C. Getting to work, school or college from Rathdrum takes 33.1 minutes on average, with 19% taking an hour or more.
Work in Rathdrum: the figures worth knowing
Work near the middle
67% of people aged 15 to 64 in Rathdrum had a job at the 2022 census; the middle of Irish towns is 68%. In work ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Trips to work, school or college take 33.1 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 19% take an hour or more. The trip to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022, CSO household income 2022 and the Live Register.
Rathdrum earns C for jobs and income
Its four measures together rank it better than 31% of Irish towns.
Its strongest measure is household income; its weakest, trip times.
Graded against Irish towns of 1,000 people or more; a shorter trip and less unemployment count in its favor.
Ranks start at 2,500 residents, so this grade has no rank.
How the grade works
Four measures, weighed equally against every Irish town of 1,000 people or more: median gross household income (CSO, 2022), people at work as a share of residents aged 15 to 64, the unemployment rate and the average trip to work, school or college (all three Census 2022). Each becomes a percentile; their average sets the letter.
Against the middle of Irish towns, Rathdrum has the longer trip to work or school
Under 15 minutes: 39% of trips, next to 36% in the middle of County Wicklow. The trip from the middle of County Wicklow averages 31.6 minutes. In County Wicklow, 7 of 9 towns counted average a shorter trip.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), time taken to travel to work, school or college; the four bands are the shares of trips whose length was stated.
Where Rathdrum’s residents work, by industry
Commerce and trade is the second-largest at 23%, against 26% across Irish towns; the smallest of the seven is farming, forestry and fishing, at 1.4%.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), industry of people at work who live here. Ireland doesn’t publish how many jobs are based in each town, so this shows what residents do, not the jobs here.
In work in Rathdrum: 67% of the 15-to-64s
Of the 9 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Wicklow, 3 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Long-term unemployment, a year or more out of work, covered 3.2% of people aged 15 and over. Put another way, 50% of the unemployed had been out of work for a year or more. Counting everyone aged 15 and over, retirees and students included, 56% were at work.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS): people at work of any age, over residents aged 15 to 64. The census doesn’t cross work with age, so the few people working past 65 count in the top only.
Half the households here have more than €56,774 a year
Before tax, 2022: higher than in 54% of Irish towns.
That puts Rathdrum 11% below the median for County Wicklow as a whole, €64,077. 6 of the county’s 9 towns of 2,500 people or more have a higher median. Net of tax, it is €49,618. The State median is €60,123, 6% above Rathdrum’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
Walk, cycle, bus or train: the choice of 13% of Rathdrum’s commuters
3.9% go by train, DART or Luas, against 1.5% in the middle of County Wicklow. In the middle of County Wicklow, 74% drive to work; here it is 76%. 11% work mainly from home, about the same as in the middle of Irish towns.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
The monthly count of people signing on in County Wicklow
4,688 people were signing on in County Wicklow in September 2026. Set against a year before, the count in September 2026 rose by 3%. It has stayed below its 2019 average for the last 49 months. Its lowest month since 2019 was November 2024, at 4,389. County Wicklow saw its highest month in July 2020: 6,173 people signing on, 13% above the 2019 average.
Live Register (CSO LRM07), people signing on at social welfare offices each month. It isn’t an unemployment rate: part-time and seasonal workers sign on too, and offices serve areas that aren’t published. This place has no office of its own name, so the chart is its county’s or city’s.
People signing on each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
56% of adults in Rathdrum are in work
The mix is close to Irish towns’ as a whole.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), principal economic status of people aged 15 and over; occupations of those at work, in three broad groups.
Rathdrum earns C+ for walkability
Better than 42% of Irish towns on two measures together.
Of the everyday places, a food shop is the one the fewest residents have within 800 m (76%).
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), places within 800 m in a straight line of each Census small area; active commuting from Census 2022. OpenStreetMap misses many GP surgeries and bakeries in Ireland, so those two are shown, not graded.
Around Rathdrum: jobs, pay and the commute
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rathdrum | 67% | 10% | €57K | 33.1 min | C | C+ |
| Aughrim 10.5 km | 63% | 9.8% | €53K | 34.7 min | C− | D |
| Ashford 11.7 km | 70% | 9.1% | €68K | 34.8 min | B− | D |
| Rathnew 12.2 km | 61% | 14% | €50K | 27 min | D | D |
| Wicklow 13.4 km | 68% | 9.3% | €64K | 32.3 min | B− | C |
| Arklow 15.9 km | 63% | 11% | €50K | 29.1 min | C− | C |
| Newtownmountkennedy 19.2 km | 71% | 8% | €66K | 30.7 min | B+ | B |
The people of each place: the share in work, unemployment, household income and trip times, with both grades.
What this data can and can’t tell you
What each figure measures for Rathdrum, where it comes from, and what Ireland doesn’t publish.
- In work. People at work over residents aged 15 to 64 (Census 2022). Graded in place of the share of everyone 15 and over, so a town of retirees isn’t marked down for them.
- Unemployment. Unemployed people (first-job seekers included) over the labour force, from Census 2022.
- Household income. CSO’s median gross household income for 2022. Where CSO publishes no figure for the town, ours is the household-weighted mean of its electoral divisions’ medians, and the page says so.
- Trip times. Census 2022 groups trips to work, school and college by length; the average uses each group’s middle (7.5 to 105 minutes).
- Signing on. The Live Register counts people signing on at a social welfare office, by office and county. It includes part-time and seasonal workers, so it follows a trend; it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- Walkability. Four everyday places within 800 m (pharmacy, food shop, school, post office) and the share who walk, cycle or take the bus or train to work. GP surgeries and bakeries are shown, not graded: OpenStreetMap misses many.
- Which towns we compare. Places of 2,500 people or more that aren’t a whole city: towns and city neighbourhoods. Grades start at 1,000 people; ranks at 2,500.
- What isn’t here. Ireland publishes no count of the jobs based in each town and no open table of where commuters go (CSO releases its place-of-work file, POWSCAR, on application only), so this page has no daily tide, commute map or jobs-based-here block. Claimant rates aren’t published for towns either: the Live Register is by office and county.
Questions about work in Rathdrum
What is the unemployment rate in Rathdrum?
10% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 3.2% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
Is Rathdrum a good place to find work?
Rathdrum earns a C for jobs and income, better than 31% of Irish towns on household income, the share of 15-to-64s in work, unemployment and trip times together.
How do people in Rathdrum get to work?
76% of commuters go by car or van, 8.3% walk, 0.2% cycle and 4.2% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 11% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Rathdrum?
Trips to work, school or college take 33.1 minutes on average; 19% take an hour or more and 39% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Rathdrum?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Rathdrum’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Rathdrum work?
Ireland has no open table of where commuters go: CSO releases its place-of-work file (POWSCAR) on application only. The census does give how people from Rathdrum travel and how long their trips take.
Sources: CSO Census 2022 SAPS · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · CSO Live Register (LRM07) · OpenStreetMap (ODbL) · grades: TownRatings. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).